
"They called me a demon, but it was they who were the monsters."run.It had happened in a single, lazy blink of a groggy eye.
RuN.One moment they were all there.
Sitting. Eating. Praying. Happy.
RUN.Now there was nothing but smoke. Rubble. Pain.
RuN.He could hear his mother's voice, as if from some
far off land only reached through a shimmering
portal like the glossy illustrations in the book that
still lay finger-breadths from his paws.
run.A sudden spark of urgency lit it's way through his
spent, aching body. He lifted his concrete head
and blinked through plastered eyes. One fatigued
paw after another, he rose, picking up the dusted
and torn book as he did so.
Two months.
Two months since he'd had his last good, happy
meal. Two months since he'd laughed. Two months
since he'd heard his mother's voice for the last time.
Two months.
He smiled. It was false, of course, but he'd always
been taught to
start the day with a smile.
Even if the day was grey and red and coated in a
rapidly thickening layer of smoke.
It's funny how long smoke hangs in the air after
devastation like that that spread its fiery body over
his homeland. Funny how long most things last. Of
course, a lot didn't. The houses didn't. The forests.
The others. The insects lasted though. Arawn's
father had always told him that they'd be the last.
He was wrong though.
Arawn was the last.
He checked one of the makeshift bandages on his
side, his body now a memoir of reasons why not to
trust those that come after ruin. He'd gone to them.
Asked for help. He'd been foolish.
They'd only shouted 'demon', 'barbarian', 'thief' and
'thug'.
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.Rusko,
Ezhno,
Dante,
Radio. Names, names etched
along the walls of Arawn's mind, alongside
countless others.
It was a further two months before he forced
himself to admit that there was none left but the
insects and the scavengers.
"Then you looked in my eyes, and you called me,
not a demon, an angel."An extended paw, a gesture of goodwill.
Arawn looked up, suspicious, but thankful.
"I saw them attack you. Hideous beasts." The
other standing next to him looked off towards
his right, face pulled into a disgusted scowl,
before turning back with a vivacious grin.
"What's your name?"
Arawn paused.
His name? He had to stop himself from simply
saying 'Barbarian'.
That would only give his tormentors triumph.
"Arawn. Arawn Panahasi." He spoke slowly,
carefully, sounding out a name so long forgotten
that now it sounded wrong.
"Pleased to meet you Arawn. The name's
Ezekiel."
"Hello." A short sentence, accompanied by an
uneasy grin.
Start the day with a smile. How
long had it been since he'd talked to someone in
this way, a passing conversation on the street that
was painted by friendliness and compassion?
Four years."I best be off." The other, Ezekiel, said, politely.
"Those lot shouldn't give you any more grief."
He'd begun to cross the quiet road, when he
looked back at Arawn's solitary figure.
"Hey, I'll catch you around, right..?"
"Right."
Another grin, an ear to ear beam as bright as
the bulb on Ezekiel's head.
"Good."
And with that, he was off, disappearing across
the still road and around the corner.
For the first time in four years, Arawn felt as if,
maybe, just maybe, there was something here,
no matter how small, to stay for.
He added another name onto the wall on the
inside of his mind, but it was in a cleaner space,
a brighter space.
A friendly space.